ABOUT THIS BLOG

"A Faithful Attempt" is designed to showcase a variety of K-12 art lessons, the work of my art students, as well as other art-related topics. Projects shown are my take on other art teacher's lessons, lessons found in books or else designed by myself. Thanks for visiting!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Snowmen at Night Chalk Pastel Drawings

Love the Xmas wish list and icicles!

﻿Grade 6 students read the book "Snowmen at Night" which is beautifully illustrated by Mark Buehner.

First I demonstrated how to draw and shade snowmen being lit by moonlight. Students needed to be able to create a sense of a 3-D form through shading on one side. They used chalk pastels on blue or purple construction paper. The snowman had do be doing some sort of activity. This is a good lesson for the principle of movement in Art. As well, we dicussed how light (moonlight) can affect the way white snow looks. I encouraged colour blending and mixing. Students also needed to include the moon on one side of their paper and make sure they shaded the correct side of the snowman.

Students were shown how to use the side of the chalk pastel to slowly lay down colour and blend and add more if necessary.

Add highlights on everything to create dimension- on the arms, hats, etc. They used their fingers to blends the colours together. You can also use tissue (some students don't like the dry dusty feeling).

I would suggest they use large paper, if possible. The ones we did are 12x18" construction paper. Have them work vertically and perhaps only do one snowman, as it's easier and they can work large.

I always demonstrate to my students how to shade and add colour in a curve to create the 3-D round form. Have them draw the moon on one side, and the side of the snowman that is closest to the moon, that stays light and the opposite side of the snowman gets the darker colours. Then they have to practice (in their sketchbook, on scrap paper, whatever)until they get the hang of it and feel comfortable. Hope this helps!

Just found this and would love to do it with my 5th graders- Did students draw on white paper to begin with and create a background color using the pastels that covered the area? Then draw their snowman??

About Me

Welcome to my Art blog! I'm currently a Grade 4-12 Art Teacher who loves teaching and seeing the variety of creative solutions students come up with. I've taught K-12 Art in four different countries around the world and am fortunate that Art is such a universally loved subject!

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